IS Militants Attack Baghdad Suburb Of Abu Ghraib

Iraqi security forces were battling on February 28 against Islamic State militants in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib in what officials described as the largest attack near the Iraqi capital in months.

Police said the IS assault started in the early morning hours when three suicide car bombers rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into barracks used by security forces in Abu Ghraib.

IS gunmen followed up the suicide attacks with a ground assault, killing at least 12 government and paramilitary soldiers and wounding at least 22.

The Reuters news agency reports that, after the initial attack was repelled, the militants seized positions at a nearby grain silo and a cemetery.

The Iraqi commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Major General Saad Harbiya, said a daytime curfew was imposed in the area.

Abu Ghraib, the location of a prison where U.S. troops committed abuses against detainees after the 2003 invasion, is about five kilometers west of Baghdad International Airport.

Meanwhile, police said at least 24 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in eastern Baghdad on February 28 when two bombs went off at a crowded market in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim district of Sadr City.

The IS extremist group said its militants had carried out the suicide attacks, saying more such assaults would follow.